Consultant posted:It is the Coach's responsibility to teach the catcher to "call the game". Recently Carl Nichols former MLB catcher and our American Team Coach offers this comment/
Carl Nichols If a coach is calling pitches for me, I don't have to pay attention to what the hitter is doing. I only need to turn my head to the dugout for the next sign. I don't pay attention to what adjustments the hitter is making. I don't pay attention to the pitcher's stuff or the effectiveness of his pitches. I don't pay attention to the umpire's strike zone. I don't pay attention to the score, the situation, who's on deck and more. All those are factors that go into calling pitches. If someone else is doing the thinking, how am I learning?
Bob
Bob, Carl had a lifetime batting average of .204. Maybe he should have let the coaches call the games so he could have focused more on other things
Sorry Bob, totally kidding. There is much merit to both sides of this argument. We are talking HS. In your world with the better events you are involved in, many of the catchers are fundamentally sound, know the game well enough and have played hundreds or thousands of games at a competitive level so they have experienced enough that they could theoretically be effective in calling games. If you are talking about most average HS catchers, they are working plenty hard just to become proficient at the basic fundamentals. It takes years of competitive game experience and good perspective from all angles of the game to come close to maximizing effectiveness of calling pitches. That said, some young catchers are great game awareness guys and thinkers. Others are not (most, in my experience). So, it is case by case. Of course, it also depends on the quality of coaches you have available to potentially fill that role. And, yes, pitcher ability factors in as well but if you don't have your HS pitchers at least making an effort to execute the pitches/locations being called, you have much bigger issues and have no business coaching HS players.